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By J.D. Harrison
Washington Post, January 5, 2015

Maryland’s minimum wage was one of many that increased at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, in the first of a series of raises that will eventually push the state’s pay floor above $10 an hour. Under legislation approved last summer, Maryland’s minimum hourly rate increased from $7.25 to $8.00 on the first of the year, and it will increase again to $8.25 in July. The minimum will tick up several more times over the next three years, reaching $10.10 in 2018.

One of the Obama administration’s top domestic priorities, efforts to boost the minimum wage have polarized employers and policymakers across the country — and the same holds true in Maryland, where business leaders are split on how the change will effect local companies in the new year.

On one side of the debate, employers say lifting the minimum wage simply increases the cost of doing business. Jessica Cooper, the Maryland state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, a small business advocacy group, said business owners in the state will be forced into “some really tough decisions” as a result. ...

In the other camp, some businesses say the move will put more money in consumers’ pockets, which they hope will translate into more customers and higher sales numbers. The Chesapeake Sustainable Business Council, a local group that promotes sustainable business policies in the District, Maryland and Virginia, has applauded the move, citing estimates from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago that the change will spur an additional $1 billion in consumer spending over the next couple years in Maryland. ...

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